Vol 3. Chapter 96: Recovery

If he hadn’t misunderstood Luna, what she’d been trying to tell him was that the Carillian Academy church was still a church—and still belonged to the Church of the Dawn.

Of course, Vinny didn’t mean every single clergyman there was some scheming bastard. He believed that most of the rank-and-file priests and nuns were definitely good people at heart. But there was no way to guarantee everyone was like that.

Were there Church of the Dawn higher-ups’ plants among them? Of course there were. No matter how you looked at it, this place was still under the Church of the Dawn. How could the Church possibly not know what had been going on inside Carillian Academy lately??

Especially with all the students and mentors who came here for treatment—they had to know everything down to the last detail.

And if you took an even darker view, it wasn’t impossible that someone among them was using that access to do something nasty.

Vinny couldn’t help thinking:

Was the aftereffect [Blood-Debt] left on him really that severe? Severe enough to keep him stuck in this constant state of drained weakness?

Or... was the weakness he’d been feeling afterward not [Blood-Debt] at all, but something man-made??

If that was really the case... had Luna specifically come here just to warn him?

Were her actions purely her own, or did they have the tacit approval of the Haukekai Family behind them?

And on top of that, Vanessa and Vinny’s identities were separated. Luna probably still hadn’t confirmed Vanessa’s identity, but Vinny actually bore the Facilis name.

So were certain Church clergy targeting him, Vinny, in particular?

Either way, Vinny felt like he needed to be a lot more careful from now on.

“Vinny, you’re back.”

When Shicodale saw Vinny return, all the unease in his chest finally eased.

“Mm. I’m back, Dale.”

“Eh?”

Shicodale stared at him in surprise. Just from his bright, refreshed face, he could see a huge difference from before. His delight burst out immediately.

“Vinny, you’re better??”

“Yeah, I’m better. See? I told you I was fine. I stepped out to walk around for a bit, and now I’m completely recovered, right? Just a minor issue.”

Vinny smiled at him.

“It really is true,” Shicodale said, amazed. “How did you recover, Vinny?”

“Maybe because I’ve been cooped up in here for two days. I hadn’t gone out in forever. Once I went out and got some fresh air, I just started feeling a lot better,” Vinny said, spreading his hands.

Now that he was feeling better, he’d gone and dumped all the alchemy potions the priest had given him somewhere out of the way.

It wasn’t that he didn’t trust that priest specifically; the guy wasn’t necessarily a problem. But no matter how you looked at it, the odds that there were people in a Church of the Dawn building who meant him harm were pretty high.

On the other side of things, Mirexia had already reported everything related to [Blood-Debt] to the Carillian Academy administration.

“Mirexia, are you serious?”

The dean of academics certainly knew Mirexia wasn’t the type to lie, much less joke about something like this. But he still found it hard to believe.

[Blood-Debt]—that sinful [Divine Armament] that had vanished for over a hundred years—was not only back in the world, it had set its sights on one of their own students.

“Of course. And it seems to have fixed its gaze specifically on Vinny,” Mirexia said with a grave nod.

“But how did [Blood-Debt] even get into Carillian Academy??”

The dean just couldn’t understand. “We’ve got so many layers of barriers. Even [Blood-Debt] should absolutely not be able to pass through them.”

“Damn it. Troubles never come alone.”

He knew very well that at a time like this, it didn’t matter how [Blood-Debt] had entered the Academy. The problem was already here. Now they needed to focus on fixing it.

“I’ll have specialist mentors search the grounds and track that sinful [Divine Armament] down. As long as it’s still hiding on Academy grounds, it won’t escape us.”

“Given what’s happened, Mirexia, I’ll need you to issue a notice as Student Council President. Tell the students to be cautious, spell out the stakes clearly, and warn them not to approach that sinful [Divine Armament].”

“Besides that, give this to Vinny.”

As he spoke, the dean handed something like a talisman charm into Mirexia’s hand.

“This charm stone can negate one instance of mental pollution or interference from a sinful [Divine Armament]. It’s specifically designed for dealing with extreme-evil weapons like [Blood-Debt]. Tell him to keep it on him at all times.”

“Understood,” Mirexia said with a nod.

“In the coming days, we’ll be sending out dedicated patrol scouts and having them project their Spirit Souls outward to boost detection. That way, any disturbance at all, they’ll be able to sense it quickly.”

“Mm.”

Mirexia left the dean’s office and immediately delivered the anti-sinful-[Divine Armament] charm to Vinny.

The enchantment on this particular item was simple and narrow in scope, but it worked.

“Thanks, Mirexia,” Vinny said.

“As long as you’re all right.”

Once she’d confirmed Vinny was back to normal, Mirexia left with an easier heart.

After that, she headed straight to the Student Council to preside over the work there, ordering her members to get the announcement drafted and posted as fast as humanly possible.

People with too strong a sense of responsibility were always busy—and always exhausted.

Mirexia was that kind of person.

Now she was probably going to end up working overtime for days again.

Vinny couldn’t help her with that. All he could do was work hard when it was his turn to be on duty.

That was the limit of what he could do.

One day passed.

Night.

“Hey. Wake up. Wake up! Come on, wake up already!”

“??? Huh? What’s going on?”

In a daze, Vinny opened his eyes—only to realize he was no longer in his own familiar room.

Instead, he was standing in a strange, kaleidoscopic world he’d seen before.

A golden “big fly” stood with its tiny hands on its hips, buzzing back and forth in front of his face, and Vinny instinctively reached out to swat it.

“Wah! What do you think you’re doing?!”

The little angel dodged frantically, puffing up in anger.

“Oh. Sorry. It’s you. I thought it was a fly,” Vinny said, scratching his head.

“Unbelievable. You again. Calling me a fly again! You are so rude!”

The little angel was deeply offended. She was this cute, and this stinky man still called her a fly the moment he saw her.

“How are you out again? I’m pretty sure I went to sleep,” Vinny said with a frown.

“Hmph. You go into a dream, and of course I come out.”

The little angel crossed her arms and still found time to complain.

“Honestly, your mouth is just as nasty as ever. There’s no way you could ever be the Blessing Angel.”

“So you’re telling me I’m going to see you every time I fall asleep from now on?” Vinny’s expression twisted. “Because I really don’t want to spend the rest of my life unable to have a single good dream.”

“You think I want to see you every day?”

“Relax. I don’t want to see you every day either,” she huffed. Then, all at once, her expression turned solemn as she looked at him.

“You really have attracted something you absolutely should never have gotten involved with.”

“What? Oh, you mean [Blood-Debt]?” Vinny frowned. “So that means you knew everything that happened?”

“Of course.”

“Oh, so you just stood there and watched the whole time instead of helping, huh?? Both of you are [Divine Armaments], and you’re even high-grade, but you just watched me get bullied by an extreme-evil [Divine Armament]? You looking to see me get taken over by [Blood-Debt] or something??” Vinny clicked his tongue.

“You think I could have helped?” the little angel snapped. “I already told you—I’m in low-power mode right now. I can’t even manifest my true form. Without Blessing Angel’s blood, what are you expecting me to do? Your demands are way too high!”

“Oh, so you’re completely unreliable. Then what are you even talking to me for?” Vinny rolled his eyes.

“I’m here to tell you—do not fall for that damned sword’s tricks!”

The little angel stomped her foot in midair, seething.

“No matter how useless you are, you’re still part of the House of Facilis, aren’t you? A descendant of Facilis being controlled by a cursed sword—do you have any idea what that would do to the House’s reputation? To the Goddess’s face? It would be utterly humiliating!”

Sorry. In the last life, on that IF-route-that-might-have-been, we really did lose all face.

Vinny grumbled silently to himself.

“In any case, you’re the blood of Facilis. You’re Lady Sophia’s great-grandson. You absolutely cannot bow your head to an extreme-evil [Divine Armament]!

No matter what it says, you can’t believe it. Got it?!”

“Yeah, yeah, I know. You didn’t have to tell me that. And it’s not like it’s something I can just ‘decide’ to do. Didn’t you see my mind getting chewed up back there? And you couldn’t help at all,” Vinny said, looking thoroughly unimpressed.

“I already said I’m not activated!”

“...Forget it. Just remember what I said!”

With that, the little angel vanished, and the bizarre, shifting world around him began to collapse.

When Vinny opened his eyes again, it was already dawn.

That morning, a white-robed old man showed up at the door with an assistant in tow.

“Uh, and you are...?”

Yawning in the living room, Vinny opened the door, stared for a second, and then asked.

“And you are, my ass. Kid, it only took a few days for you to forget me??”

Charles glared at him. “Do I need to remind you that you’re one of those ‘big shots who forget people easily’ now?”

“If you don’t want your reward anymore, I can turn around and leave. It’s not like I’m eager to give it to you.”

“No, no, don’t—Charles, of course I remember you. I was just joking,” Vinny said immediately, dropping the act the second he heard that. He hurried to block Charles from leaving, smiling all over his face.

“Hmph. I heard you got yourself into trouble again.”

Charles looked Vinny over, puzzled.

“Weird. Why do all the bad things keep flocking to you? You sure you’re not actually a walking disaster?”

“What disaster? Come on, old man, that’s rude. When bad things happen, you think I want it?” Vinny clicked his tongue. “I’d like to be a normal person too, thanks. You think I enjoy having terrible things cling to me all day?”

“Click your tongue all you want. Seeing you like this, I really worry that once [Sixfold Inferno] ends up in your hands, it’ll wind up in some criminal’s hands someday.”

Charles raised a brow. “You have such rotten luck that one really bad day and all the good stuff on you might end up in someone else’s pockets.”

“No way. Look at me, I’m alive and well, aren’t I? Didn’t I already say, I don’t have many strengths, but my life is really hard to take.”

As he spoke, Vinny’s gaze slid to the elegant case in the assistant’s hands.

Immediately, he rubbed his palms together and swapped on a different face.

“Heehee, so my [Magic Tool] finally arrived, huh, old man?” Vinny’s smile turned obsequious.

“All right, enough of that pathetic face. It’s here. Take it.”

Charles had the assistant hand the box over.

“Hehehe, thanks, old man! By the way, is there an instruction manual? Or did you tuck it inside the box?”

“Manual, my ass. Figure it out yourself.”

“Wow, so there’s no after-sales service at all?” Vinny pouted.

“Keep talking and I will take it back,” Charles snorted.

“Haha, nope, all good. I’ll figure it out myself, I’ll figure it out myself.”

Vinny hurried to clutch the box to his chest like Charles might actually change his mind.

“Hmph. Watch that little life of yours,” Charles said, then waved to his assistant and left the courtyard.

Vinny rushed back inside and opened the box to check his reward.

It looked just like the illustration.

No—cooler than the illustration he’d seen in the catalog.

He picked up the red-gold weapon, holding [Sixfold Inferno] in his hand like a kid who’d finally gotten his dream toy, turning it over and admiring it from every angle.

Which boy didn’t love a firearm like this??

And this one was a magic weapon on top of that—magic and gun in one. The appeal for a guy was off the charts.

Vinny noticed that the revolving cylinder of [Sixfold Inferno] was glowing faintly with flames. That meant he could clearly see how many shots he had left at a glance.

When he raised [Sixfold Inferno] to aim, he discovered that a blue aiming lens appeared between the two top corners of the frame like a crosshair.

Holy hell, it had a scope too??

This [Magic Tool] was stylish as hell. The designer had to be a genius to imagine something this innovative.

You really had to wonder if the designer was also a transmigrator.

The moment he gripped [Sixfold Inferno], Vinny felt his body heat up.

So this was the boost from the fire-element affinity, huh??

Just carrying [Sixfold Inferno] on him—even without firing it—was a huge buff.

Rummaging through the box, Vinny also found a custom holster.

He slid [Sixfold Inferno] into the holster, clipped it to his waist, paced back and forth in the room to show it off, nodded in satisfaction, and then stepped out of the dorm.

With his new gear in hand, Vinny felt ridiculously high-spirited.

He decided to head out for a walk.

And just as he was making his way down the street, a figure silently approached from behind and patted him on the back.

“Hm?”

Vinny turned—and found himself looking at a face he didn’t recognize.